Bit of a thread on why BusConnects for Phibsborough was never a good idea and why it should have alerted people and how it is condemning a neighbourhood that could be a destination into a traffic hole for years to come.
1) Cycle lanes removal. At the moment, it is OKish to cycle from my shop to the bottom of Church st. After this plan, when I (and the hundreds of people living on that stretch) leave our place, we will mix with buses.
2) Having people on bikes going around: in 2024, in the middle of a climate collapse, we still are proposing that people on bikes go around places while people in cars are keeping the privilege of going straight on a straight road while keeping private vehicles lanes intact.
3) Footpaths narrowing. Anyone who has ever walked in Phibsborough knows how narrow the footpaths already are. This is the most densely populated area in the country, and its density is going up. Cities thrive when footpaths are wide, and again, in a climate crisis, this is incomprehensible.4) Design flaws. We still do not know how people on bikes are supposed to reach Constitution Hill by the Canal way or how people living on the East side are supposed to cross a 4 laneway to get to it.
5) Expense to not inconvenience private cars. Instead of having a bus signalling system at each end of the village which would have allowed for larger footpaths and cycle lanes in the village, the engineers came up with digging up a tunnel underneath the NCR, building bridges on the canal etc. There is no budget associated with this project, but it will be eye watering for absolutely no reason other than keeping private cars on that road.
6) Lack of confidence to actually implement the plan. Any 'improvement' in the plan (there is supposed to be an extra pedestrian crossing in the village for example) could be just dropped anytime. Call me a cynic, but I suspect the Phibsborough plan will get the same treatment as the Dorset st one.
7) Air quality. This is for me the big one. In their environmental report, the NTA writes that the European air quality standards (for NO2 especially) are not being met. There are multiple breaches along the route, showing shocking levels of NO2. As a reminder, NO2 provokes asthma, respiratory insufficiency, stunts children's lungs and is linked with dementia. So these levels are ILLEGAL already.
To sum this up. We are breathing huge amounts of NO2 already, and a 'sustainable transport' project will make it worse for years to come (the NTA advances 2043 before things get better), in a very densely populated area, which is getting denser. So more people will be exposed to those levels for years to come. The NTA writes this down, ABP approves the plan even if they know it is breaking the law and exposing thousands of people to poison. Words fail me.
8) Impact on businesses. We know that businesses thrive from calmer streets - I wish our local businesses had the money that the ones opposing the Transport Plan have. Would they be received twice by the Chief Exec to 'hear their concerns'?
BusConnects for Phibsborough is a farce, it is dangerous for people's health, it will stunt the growth of an otherwise lovely area for years to come, and it reinforces the split between the wealthy part of the area and the rest (namely past Doyle's corner), which is as usual treated like a traffic corridor and not a place where people live.
